Improvement in brick-machines



J. CRABTREE & w; H. MELCH BRICK-MACHINE. N.17o,5ze.

jw'yi 3 Sheets-Sheetl. ER.

Patented Nov. 30,1875.

WITNESSES Nv PETER y PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D C

. 3SheetsSh eetZ. J. CRABTREE & W. H. MELCHER.

- BRICK-MACHINE. No.170,5Z6. Patented N'ov.30,1875.

N Attorneys,

N, PETERSv FHOTO LITHOGRAPHEFL WASHINGTON, D C.

. 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

cnAswmra w. H. MELGHER. BRICK-MACHINE. No 170,5Z6 I I Patented Nov.30,1875. I

Fife) fi W Y mar 55 U ITED STATES JOHN ORABTREE AND WILLIAM H;

PATENT" came.

MELGHER, or PHILADELPHIA, PA.

ASSIGNORS TO THEMSELVES AND WILLIAM ORABTREE, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BRICK-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 170,526, dated November30,1875; application filed November 4, 1875. i

chine,'as will be hereinafter more fully set.

forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which our inventionappertains to make and'use the same, we will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, in whichFigure 1is a side elevation of our machine. Fig. 2 is an end view of thesame. Figs. 3

and 4am vertical sections of the'machine- Fig. 5 is a plan view; andFigs. 6, 7, 8, 9, and g means ofa worm, K, on a shaft, L, said shaft 10are views of detached parts thereof.

The frame A of our brick-machine'is constructed in any suitable mannerto contain the various working parts thereof. B is the cylinder orpug-mill, through the center of which passes a vertical shaft, a,provided with a series of knives, C, for cutting the clay and forcing orfeeding it downward to and below a segmental false bottom, D, secured inthe lower part of the pug-mill. In the space between the bottom of thepug-mill and the false bottom D works a pusher, E, attached to the shafta, thefront of said pusher being made convex or curved, as shown bydotted lines in Fig. 5. This pusher forces the clay from the cylinder orpug-mill B through the die or mouth-piece b into the molds, and acts inconnection with a pivoted stop, G, which also works under the falsebottom I). The stop G is secured to a vertical rod, d, to which is alsosecured an arm, H, carrying a stud and roller, 0, on its-under side atthe outer end. This roller bears against a cam, I, (shown in Fig. 7,)secured on the shaft a below the bottom of the pug-mill. As the clay isforced by the pusherE under the false bottom D, the

stop G prevents the clay from going all the die or mouth-piece 11 intothe molds. By the use of the pusher and stop the clay is thus' turnedfor the next charge, thereby avoiding.

any undue pressure in themolds. This is readily seen by reference to.Fig. 5. As the pusher advances under the false bottom D, it presses outthestop G before it, and when the point of the pusher has passed theside or point rec-f the die, there'is room behind the pusher fo'ranyexcess of clay toescape and remain for the next'charge. As soon as thepusher has cleared the stop, the cam I, acting upon the roller 0 and armH, at once forces the stop inward to its original position. On the shafta, near the lower end, is fastened a cog-wheel, J, which receives itsmotion by being run by any suitable or convenient power. Underthe'cog-Wheel J, on the same shaft, is secured a beveled pinion, M,which meshes way around, but causes it to pass out of the with, andcommunicates motion to, alarge f bevel-wheel, N, secured on a shaft, 0.running at right angles with the main driving-shaft? L, and upon thisshaft 0 are secured the va rious cams for operating the remaining portions of the machinery. P represents amovable carriage placed uponsuitable guidesor ways in the frame A, and having a mo1d, R,'

formed on or attached toit at each end. "The mold is open at the sidetowardfthe die or mouth-piece b, and on the opposite side it forms asolid abutment, f, against which the clay is pressed. The end pieces ofthe mold are provided with. a series of vertical slots, and. the bottomof the mold is grooved to form continuations of said slots. The bottomof the mold is a follower, S, which is raised and lowered at the propertime by means of two flanged or' grooved cams, T T, operating on pinsit, projecting from the sides of the follower near the lower end. In theframe A, opposite the upper edge of the die b, is a sta:

, carriage is moved back and forth-that is,

while the mold is directly opposite the die b, it is covered by theslat-work V, and the mold is then filled with clay from the pug-mill.

a Above the slat work V is across-shaft, W, carrying a series of knives,Y, which revolve" with the shaft and pass between the slats, and throughthe clayin the mold, dividing the same into proper size for bricks. a

After the clay has been thus divided and the carriage moved to one end,the follower S is raised up abovei the top of the mold, lifting thebricks with it, when they are pushed off,

onto boards or stationary tables by means of a cross-bar, Z, attached atits ends to heads A A, sliding in ,grooves'in the sides ot'ithe frame A,and connected by links 1th with two arms,B B, projectingfrom a rockingshaft, 0. The carriage, followers, and push-bars are,

operated by the following means At one end of the carriage is a hingedlink,k, the outer end ofwhich is, pivoted to an elbow-lever, D,

pivoted to a rock-shafigE. Theelbow-lever,

D is, by a rod, m, connected with the upper slotted end of astraightlever, G,attached at its lower end to a rock-shaft, H. i It isunderstoodthat these devices may be the same at both ends of thecarriage. V

Thetwo levers G G are connected by means of abar or rod, a,asshowninFig. 3, and in the slot of each lever is mounted a roller, 1),for a cam, I, to operate against, said cam being sethe die ormouth-piece b. l

e To insure that the carriage will stop and be held stationary at theexact point where the mold will be opposite the die,so that the sides lofthe die and sides of the mold will be flush vwith each other. Iprovide the shaft O with twocams, J J, each ofwhichoperates anj arm, K,vertically up and down by means of a roller, 8, mounted on a stud in theside of the arm, andworkingin said cam. The arm K moves in suitableguides, and its upper, end is pointed or V-shaped, as shown in Fig. 6.Whenthecarriagearrives in position to bringeither mold opposite the die,the arms K areraised bythe cams J, so that their; pointed endswillentercorrespon din gly-shaped notches t in the under side of thecarriage,

andhold it perfectly rigid while the clay is being forced into themolds, and while the knives are cuttingthe sameinto bricks. This is ofgreat importance, as there is always or less playjlor lost motion in thegearmg. j y

' As an additional security against any vihration or movement of thecarriage while the arms K; are beingraised and lowered, a hook,w,pivoted to theinside of the frame A, catches on pin, 1;, in the sideofthe carriage. This.

hook is raised andtlowered 1 by having a stud and rollersm, working in acam,1L,, on the knifeshaft W.

The grooved cams T, whichraise and lower the followers S in the molds,are secured on a shaft, 3 to the inner end ofwhichisattached an arm, z,and this arm 1 is, by a rod, a ,*connected with a lever, M, pivotedatits lower; end to the frame, and provided near its upper end witha studand roller, N, that works in a ca|n,N, ontheshaft 0. By these meansthefollowers in the two molds are raised and lowered at the proper time, itbeing understood that the mechanism 'justdescribedisthe same at bothends of the machine, and the rollers b of the two levers M both work inthe same cam N.

On the rear end of the shaft :0 issecured a earn, 0', in which worktwostudsand rollers, d, attached to the lower ends of two elbowlevers,l? P, mounted upon posts projecting from the frame. The other arms ofthese 16- vers are,byrods e a, connected with armsf l f attached to theshaftso of. These shafts having thearms B, to which the push-bars Z areconnected, said push-bars are moved at the proper times to move thebricks fromgthe molds. The knife-shaft isvrotated bysuitable gearing RIt fromtheshaftvO. The operation of themachine is, =brietly, as follows:The machine being in motion,; the knives G on the shaft on inthepug-mill cut the clay, and force it downward until, the pusher E pressesthemold full that is itllflll opposite the die or mouth-piece b. Assoonlas the mold is fulland the pusher-E has passed the mouth of the dietheknives Y descend through the slat-work V, and through theislots andgrooves of the mo1d,,cutting1the clay into the proper size for bricks,Just before the knives clear the clay the armsvK are moved downward toclear the notches t therein,;and when the knives have entirely clearedthe mold the hook w is, by its cam,raised lfrom off the pin '0.Thecarriagewillthen bemoved, soas to bring the otherflm oldv oppositetothe die or mouth-piece b, andwhilethis no ld lis being f lled and theclay cutthe follower Sin the first moldis raised ,byits cams T, andlthebrick then pushed oli" bythe push-banZ v;

The various camsmentionedare construc ed in the following manner: Thecam I, which forces the stop G inward, is shown in Fig; 7 and has asemicircle, a2, concentric with the shafts, and from each end of thesemicircle is a straight side, b extending radially inward for asuit-able distance, aud then a smaller semicircle, (1 in theoppositedirection, also concentric with the shaft a i v v i i It i The cams T,for operatingthe follower y e the molds, are shown, in Fig. 3, andconsist simply of curved arms, ihavin gon their outer ends curvedconcentric flanges e 0?, between H v i, v i which the rollers'i on thefollowers arefcaught l and pass as the cams revolve. The cams J,forjoperating the barsfK are constructed, as shownin Fig. 3, withtwoquar;

ter-circles, f f, of the same diameter, and concentric with the shaft 0,upon which the cams are secured. The two quarter-circles f are connectedby curves h k and straight portions 6 i at each end of said curve. Thecam L on the knife-shaft W, for operating the hook w, is shown in Fig.10, and has a groove, 70 of nearly three-fourths of a circle, andconcentric with the shaft, the two ends of said groove being connectedby an irregular groove, m which causes the hook to lift ofi' of the pin1; instantaneously, and returns it, in like manner, onto the pin, whereit remains, while the roller 00 of the hook passes through thethree-quarter circular groovek The cam N, which operates the cams T, isshown in Fig. 8, and is constructed with a groove, n about two-thirds ofa circle, and concentric with the shaft 0, on which said cam N issecured. From the ends of the groove n extend two parallel grooves, 1912 the outer ends of which are connected by a curved groove, 8 In thesegrooves work the rollers 12 of the levers M', for imparting the propermotion to them.

The earn 0, for operating the pusher-bars Z, is shown in Fig. 1, and hasa two-thirds circular groove, t connected by means of twoinwardly-inclined grooves, 11 e Having thus fully described ourinvention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. In a brick-machine, the pug-mill B, provided with the segmental falsebottom D and the die or mouth-piece b, in combination with a mold placedagainst said mouth-piece, so that the clay is forced on a horizontalline directly from the pug-mill into the mold, substantially as hereinset forth.

2. In a pug-mill for brick-machines, the combination of the pusher E andstop G, constructed and operating substantially as and for the purposesherein set forth.

3. The combination of the stop Gr, vertical rod d, arm H, with roller 0,and the cam I, having semicircles a d and straight parts b bsubstantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

4. The molds R R upon the ends of the movable carriage P, said moldsbeing open on one side, a solid abutment, f, on the opposite side,

and the ends and bottom slotted and grooved, substantially as and forthe purposes herein set forth.

5. A series of knives, Y, attached to a revolving shaft, W, andoperating in combination with the slat-work V and slotted molds R R,substantially as and for the purposes herein-set forth.

6. The combination of the carriage P, hav- '7. The combination of thecam L, having segmental and irregular grooves 70 m, the pivoted hook w,with stud and roller'x, and the pin 0) on the side of the carriage 1,substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

8. The combination of the grooved follower S, with pins 'i t projectingfrom its sides, and the cams T, attached to a rocking shaft, y, andprovided with concentrically-curved flanges 0 6 substantially as and forthe purposes herein set forth.

9. The combination of the cam N, having curved and straight grooves n 8and 10 as described, the levers M, with studs and rollers b rods a andarms 2 on the rocking shafts y, for operating the cams T, substantiallyas and for the purposes herein set forth.

10. The combination of the cross-bar Z,

sliding heads A, links h, and arms B, attached to the rocking shaft 0,substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

11. The combination of the cam 0, havingsegmental groove t and inclinedgrooves 11 the elbow-levers P, with studs and rollers d, the links e andarms f on the rocking shafts O, substantially'as and for the purposesherein set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto set our handsthis 16th day of October, 1875. I

JOHN GRABTREE. WM. H. MELOHER. Witnesses:

FRANK WOLFE, F. A. OSBOUBN.

